


Thirty-Five Minutes

by addictedkitten



Series: Seth and Sark Take Southern California [1]
Category: Alias, The OC
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-20
Updated: 2005-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-31 10:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/343003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addictedkitten/pseuds/addictedkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seth and Sark end up on a plane together to Santa Barbara. Somehow, this turned into a three-part series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirty-Five Minutes

They'd been in the air ten minutes so far. Actually, ten minutes and twenty-six-point-two seconds. Possibly. Seth shook his wrist, then put it to his ear. Still ticking. Right. Ten minutes, thirty-two-point-six seconds. The ground was really far away. Like, seriously far. The windows looked like they were about a quarter of an inch thick. Seth was pretty sure he was going to die. 

"Checking your watch every thirty seconds won't make the time go any faster."

Seth jumped a little. The man next to him (boy? Neither really seemed correct) had his eyes closed, his hands folded across his stomach.

"Hey, you don't know that," Seth said, just for something to say. Maybe the guy would talk some more. He had a nice accent. Sort of like it had been on its way to British, but stopped at some point and settled for European. No. Continental. 

The man cracked one eye open, his eyebrow raised. Seth sighed and took off his watch, stuffing it into his pocket. 

"Man, I hate these little prop planes. They're like tiny rattling deathtraps," Seth said.

"It won't be long until we land." His eyes closed again. 

Seth very casually checked him out. Blond. Sort of angular. Dressed in a suit. Wearing a watch. Seth squinted at it. Eleven minutes exactly. 

"Checking my watch won't work either."

This guy was good. "Thank you," Seth said. "You are wise." He paused. "I'm Seth."

"Julian."

Of course, he was so totally a Julian. 

"So, who's your favorite superhero?" Too late, Seth realized that his opening conversational gambit for the Comics Club was possibly not suitable for the world at large. Julian turned to him, looking mildly amused without actually moving his mouth at all. His mouth. Seth was looking at his mouth. Julian's lower lip was slightly crooked, he realized. It made him look _off_ somehow. In a good way, though, like without that he'd look too perfect. 

"I don't like superheroes."

Seth decided to let that one slide. "Okay, ideal superpower then."

"I'd like to be able to kill people with my mind."

"Whoa," Seth said. 

Julian made a movement that might have been a shrug, had he been the type of guy to shrug. Seth didn't think he was. "It would save me some time."

"More the supervillain type, okay. I'm down with that."

"Are you?" Julian looked amused. "And what else are you 'down with'," he paused, "Seth?" The way he said Seth's name made it sound vaguely obscene.

"Um," Seth said. "Well. See, I think I'm more of the sidekick type. 'Cause I'm, you know. Trusty. Always there in a clinch. Except for when I'm in Portland. Otherwise, though. I'm there for the hero."

"There to do what?" Wow, Julian was making implications about Seth's relationship with Ryan when he didn't even know about it. That was impressive. Or maybe Seth was just projecting. Maybe Seth had fallen asleep and dreamed up a world in which blond, European supervillains had inane, mildly flirty (was Seth projecting again? Did guys like Julian flirt?) conversations on prop planes on the way to Santa Barbara. 

"There to help, you know. Fight the bad guy. Which, by the way, you can't be a supervillain without a good name. Like, Magneto or Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom."

Julian had leaned back into his seat again, his eyes closed and lips curved in a faint smile. "How about Mr. Sark?"

"Mr. Sark, okay, I like it. Sort of non-specifically threatening. It works for you. I can tell you've thought about this before."

"I've had plenty of time to think."

Okay, Seth wasn't sure how to respond to that. Probably he shouldn't pry, even if Julian had left himself open for it. But he probably knew Seth wouldn't ask. Seth had a feeling there was very little Julian did that he didn't think through first. He went for the default option: "Jail time, huh?"

Julian looked up, eyes sharp. 

"No, man, I've been there. I swear, kidnap one foreign diplomat and they're all over you. It's like it's illegal or something. I still have attacks of the Folsom Prison blues."

"Of course," Julian said. He relaxed a little. Seth wondered if he had been right. What if this guy was a criminal? That would be so cool. Well, not cool, really, but. Okay. One of these days Seth was going to have to deal with his attraction to the criminal element. 

"So what do you do?" Seth asked.

"I work freelance," Julian said, after a moment.

"Doing what?"

"My, you are curious, aren't you?" Julian said, which wasn't an answer. 

"It's a flaw. I'm learning to live with it."

"How noble."

"Thank you. It's why I'm one of the good guys."

Julian had that look of mild amusement again, but whatever he might have said was cut off by the flight attendant announcing their imminent arrival at the terminal. The fasten seatbelt sign clicked on, and Seth was momentarily bummed to realize that any chance they had of making out in the bathroom had passed. Okay, Seth, no, wrong thoughts. Julian was looking at him, and wow, were his eyes ever blue. Seth's wrong thoughts got steadily more wrong. 

"Seth," Julian said. Somewhere around the E his name became something different, something sort of sexy. Seth was thinking about Julian's mouth again. "I'll be in Santa Barbara for the week. Perhaps you could tell me more about these good guys." He handed Seth a business card.

"I don't think my parents would be okay with me consorting with supervillains," Seth said, which was, wow, possibly the stupidest thing he could have said, and apparently Seth code for 'let's find a place right now and do many things I've only read about but which I think I would really enjoy'. Against every rational impulse in his brain, he kept speaking. "Although if that was true they would probably keep me away from Julie Cooper. Um. This is your phone number?"

"You can reach me at my hotel."

"Okay. I'll, um. Okay." Seth's heart was trying to bump its way out of his chest. The rough landing wasn't helping. He stuck the business card in his pocket next to his watch. This was so the best plane ride ever.

Possibly they might have talked a bit more, but Seth kept getting distracting by the pointy edge of Julian's business card, poking at him through his pocket. He had Julian's _number_. Julian wanted to _hang out_. Well, probably not hang out. But do something with Seth, which was so totally fine with him. Oh god, he could see his parents, they were waiting for him. 

"So, you could totally meet my-" Seth started, and then his brain caught up with his mouth and he stuttered to a stop. His Mom was waving. Ryan was there, too. 

"You know how to get a hold of me," Julian said, and briefly touched Seth's thigh, right where his hand was clutching the business card in his pocket.

"Ah, yes. And I will be doing. That." Julian nodded, and walked away. Seth nodded at Julian's retreating back. "Right. Good plan."

"Making friends, Seth?" Ryan asked when he arrived in front of them. 

"You know me," Seth said. "I'm just friendly like that."


End file.
